AAP: Populism over policy?

Instead of addressing policy issues the Aam Aadmi Party is pandering to populist sentimentsThe ride is getting rougher for Delhirsquos youngest Chief Minister Ever since that euphoric swearing in ceremony at Ramlila Maidan Arvind Kejriwal and his party men have be dogged by one controversy after the other From the selection of his official residence to the selection of words by Prashant Bhushan on Kashmir from the modus operandi of the so called lsquo50 per cent cutrsquo in power bills to reservation of up to 90 of seats in statefunded colleges mdash every decision of the party has been scrutinised as per the high standards that AAP has set for itself While we are still to see most of these decisions being implemented on the ground mdash Arvind and company are already being judged on the eversofickle scale of public perceptionPoster boy Arvind KejriwalMost of 2013 the Aam Aadmi Party spent screaming lsquomedia blackoutrsquo mdash that the media had been coerced or paid by the powers that be to not cover and publicise the party Ironically in 2014 in the midst of all the media attention it would do AAP a world of good if it would spend less time with the press and more on how to deliver on some of the extremely tall promises made in its manifestoAAP began its tenure on a bitter note and came under attack for cozying up with the scam hit Congress party mdash now Kejriwalrsquos focus on the Lok Sabha elections is being seen as a rush job to capitalise on the antiCongressanticorruption sentiment in the nation Rival parties are having a field day painting Kejriwal as a man who would do anything to get powerItrsquos no secret that Kejriwal is a man in a hurry mdash but as Saturdayrsquos lsquoJanta Darbarrsquo showed hersquos neither well prepared nor going in the right direction as Chief MinisterWhile the lack of arrangements at the event is understandable what is questionable is Kejriwal spending first half of a day trying to organise the Darbar and the second trying to defend his sudden exit after a near stampedelike situation developed at the venueWhile the CM should be connected with the masses he would do much better solving systemic problems of corruption bureaucratic delays law and order womenrsquos issues employment etc rather than scoring brownie points by hosting Darbars in full media glare Priority must be given to macro policy issues rather than addressing micro complaints for populist purposesWhile Arvind is the poster boy for the media right now he must take lessons from Annarsquos dramatic rise and fall Too much exposure to the limelight is never a good idea especially among a citizenry that loves to toast you and then just as easily roast you Just as Annarsquos frequent fasts became a bit of a joke mdash AAPrsquos celebrated penchant for being lsquoaamrsquo could soon acquire nuisance value Arvind Kejriwal must realise that more than this Wagon R people will judge him by the actions he takes and the promises he keepsThe ideal thing for AAP to have done was to deliver on a concrete basis in Delhi But besides dubious subsidies usual transfer of officers and customary media bytes the revolution this party promised is far from realAlready the power distribution companies are threatening blackouts in Delhi because electricity rates are so low if that happens AAP will come under intense fire Also the citizenry of Delhi would be waiting to see how AAP flushes out corruption from the system mdash a promise that was supposed to be fulfilled within days of coming to powerHopefully the party has better plans than running sting operations on government servants and hosting janta darbars in stadiums What Arvind and his team need right now is a foolproof plan on speedy delivery and justice because the aam aadmi as we have witnessed is no onersquos foolmdash Akash Banerjee is the author of Tales from Shining amp Sinking India